Pierre Félix Masseau

Pierre Félix Masseau (March 17, 1869 – 1937), known professionally as Fix-Masseau, was a noted French sculptor and father of poster artist Pierre Fix-Masseau.

Fix-Masseau was born in Lyons, studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, served as director of the École Nationale d'Art Décoratif in Limoges until 1935, and was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur. He formed part of the French decorative art movement, creating objects such as vases and chandeliers in the Art Nouveau style, exhibited numerous works at the Salon des Artistes Francais and the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and was widely respected for his portrait busts.

Selected works

• Musée d'Orsay
  • Le Secret, 1894, 76 cm, statuette of mahagony and ivory
  • Masque d' Edmond Lachenal, 1890, terra cotta
  • Réflexion, 1900, bronze mask
  • Buste de Jan Van Herwijnen, 1924, marble
  • Restauration and cast of the 36 busts of the Célébrités du Juste millieu of Honoré Daumier, 1927
  • Intérieur, oil painting, 61.5x50.5 cm

• Elsewhere
  • Buste de Charles Baudelaire, Paris, Jardin du Luxembourg
  • Buste d' Auguste Delaherche; Beauvais, Musée départemental de l'Oise
  • Méditation - Monsieur le Penseur; Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts
  • Le Secret, about 1900, bronze statue, 28 cm, bronze cast by Siot-Decauville
  • Beethoven, 1902, bronze bust, since October 2001 placed coutyard of the „Im Mohren“, Bonngasse 18, Bonn
  • Renault Tank type FT17, before 1922, bronze, 20 cm,

References

• Emmanuel Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays, Paris: Librarie Gründ, 1923-4 and 1976.
• European Art Gallery entry